I threw it together with Omnigraffle in about a half-hour. The diagram only represents the ATV/iTunes support infrastructure and leaves out other network components, for the sake of simplicity.
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Storage Solutions for our OUT-OF-CONTROL iTunes Libraries
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It's an N network between the AEBS and the MBP. My PC still runs on G, but that shouldn't be affecting the other machine if I understand correctly. Signal strength is flawless as I live in an apartment and all my machines are relatively close to the router.
Good idea.
Sounds like it is completely optimized. I suppose though, your request gets sent from the AppleTV, to the AEBS, to the computer, to the AEBS, to the HD, back to the AEBS, and to the AppleTV. If the AEBS was hard-wired to the computer or to the AppleTV, that would help a lot, but that is defeating the purpose! Very cool setup anyway. I'm going to see what I can make that way eventually. I think I'll end up keeping my 750GB external iTunes Hard drive attached directly to my iMac via FW800, in my homemade iMac Desk's hidden drawer so that it's out-of-sight but still directly attached. Then I'll back up my iMac and the iTunes external over an 'N' network to an AEBS and a DROBO. Should reduce the amount of back-n-forth and the lag associated with it.
We'll see.
That all sounds good. Point of clarification - my ATV is directly connected to the AEBS. The only wireless portion of the process is between the AEBS and the laptop. It works okay. *shrugs*
Solution from Apple?
Am I the only one who's wondering why the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule don't have built-in iTunes servers?
Why isn't Apple offering an all-in-one iTunes server + NAS? A single-core, low-cost, low-power Atom CPU would be perfect for the job. It would probably be able to run on 256 or 512 MB RAM. Just add enough space for at LEAST four 3.5" drives (eight drives in my ideal setup).
Why, with all the "it just works" products from Apple, are we forced to have computers dedicated to serving our media? And before you say "it sells more Macs", remember that it could very well be a small Intel D945GCLF Little Falls Mainboard running Windows 2000/XP with a free iTunes download, so there's no profits in it for Apple.
Of course, you don't need to dedicate a computer to media server duties, but otherwise you end up with a Mac mini or an iMac with lots of external USB/FireWire drives on your main desktop. That's also a lot of external power bricks (for most external drives).
Am I the only one who wants an iTunes server product?
Am I the only one who's wondering why the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule don't have built-in iTunes servers?
Why isn't Apple offering an all-in-one iTunes server + NAS? A single-core, low-cost, low-power Atom CPU would be perfect for the job. It would probably be able to run on 256 or 512 MB RAM. Just add enough space for at LEAST four 3.5" drives (eight drives in my ideal setup).
Why, with all the "it just works" products from Apple, are we forced to have computers dedicated to serving our media? And before you say "it sells more Macs", remember that it could very well be a small Intel D945GCLF Little Falls Mainboard running Windows 2000/XP with a free iTunes download, so there's no profits in it for Apple.
Of course, you don't need to dedicate a computer to media server duties, but otherwise you end up with a Mac mini or an iMac with lots of external USB/FireWire drives on your main desktop. That's also a lot of external power bricks (for most external drives).
Am I the only one who wants an iTunes server product?
Am I the only one who's wondering why the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule don't have built-in iTunes servers?
Why isn't Apple offering an all-in-one iTunes server + NAS? A single-core, low-cost, low-power Atom CPU would be perfect for the job. It would probably be able to run on 256 or 512 MB RAM. Just add enough space for at LEAST four 3.5" drives (eight drives in my ideal setup).
Why, with all the "it just works" products from Apple, are we forced to have computers dedicated to serving our media? And before you say "it sells more Macs", remember that it could very well be a small Intel D945GCLF Little Falls Mainboard running Windows 2000/XP with a free iTunes download, so there's no profits in it for Apple.
Of course, you don't need to dedicate a computer to media server duties, but otherwise you end up with a Mac mini or an iMac with lots of external USB/FireWire drives on your main desktop. That's also a lot of external power bricks (for most external drives).
Am I the only one who wants an iTunes server product?
I second that motion. I'm sure there would be some huge hurdles to overcome... and it would have to be expandable (like the Drobo) to really get my attention... but yes, I would love it if Apple tried something like this.
You have my vote.
someone just needs to make a droboApp that will act as an itunes server - maybe even apple themselves!
I have a windows machine with 800 gigs of HD Space, that I only have 200 mb left. So I am planing on buying a G5 and gutting it to be able to put 4 1TB drives in it. It is possible, I have a friend who has done it. But I wanted to mention, I use Mozy for my back up option. I would highly recommend it, unlimited back up. I would not recommend it for cable users, I switched to Fios entry option and get a consistent 1Mb/s upload speed. It helps a lot when you have that much data that needs to be back up.
I've thought about this. At this point, my collection isn't what I'd consider out of control, but I do think about redundancy and not wanting to lose my music.
At any rate, I've moved my music off of my iMac and put it on a Seagate FW hard drive (320GB). At this time, I rely on my iPod as being my backup. If something happens to one or the other, I effectively have a backup of everything that I can restore to a new hard drive or iPod if need be.
At any rate, I've moved my music off of my iMac and put it on a Seagate FW hard drive (320GB). At this time, I rely on my iPod as being my backup. If something happens to one or the other, I effectively have a backup of everything that I can restore to a new hard drive or iPod if need be.
This is what I was hoping to do. The thing is, because I wanted my music library (and photo library) to be on my Macbook, and just back it up to the Time Capsule. The much larger video files would be on the NAS/server (which btw would be have redundancy).
However, then I realised that if my Macbook was away, it might cause some problems for my ATV... what with the media being in two separate locations.
So in that sense, I think I will abandon the idea of a Time Capsule, and just get a AEBS. The I would just point everything to the NAS/server and call that my main location for media.
But what I lose is the ability for my portable and backed up music and photo libraries to be always sync'ed. It would be easier if my main library was on the Macbook and then got backed up.... Otherwise I'd have to manually copy the libraries over to the laptop to ensure I have a full up to date copy of my music and photos for when I'm on the road.
Oh, and not sure whether I would go NAS or Server yet. Still undecided...
Any thoughts?
Borjan, that's the problem I had to deal with as well. I am nearing 1.5 TB of TV shows and movies, in addition to 200 GB of music. I can't possibly keep it all with me at all times, so the TV shows and movie reside on the network connected to the AEBS. It means that my videos aren't available when I travel unless I copy them over, but that's worth it to me.
Always running out of room
I have an Apple TV in the living room and a mac mini pretending to be an Apple TV in the bedroom.
iTunes runs on the Mac Pro in the study, the media
30,000 songs
5,000 TV shows (1,000 in 720p HD)
Sits on two 2tb Buffalo Terastation Pro NAS drives.
I've had to archive 600Gb of TV as I don't have room for it anymore, it stashed on SATA drives on the shelf.
The 200 movies (100 HD) sit on a 500Gb WD My book connected to the Pro as I've run out of room on the NAS drives.
Bring on 4tb hard drives, a 4x4Tb RAID 5 array (12Tb usable) should keep me going for a while, but I need to come up with a plan as I'd like to rip my 1,500 DVDs as well.
HD is the killer, 1 HD Movie takes up the room of 4 SD movies. Plus add the AC3 5.1 sound and we're looking at 5Gb per movie. 100 of those and your 500gb external drive is gone.
Also, after a couple of drive failures in the past (including loosing my entire music collection) I WILL NOT leave my media on a single drive again, hence the RAID NAS drives. Even then the music is backed up every night to a USB drive.
iTunes is starting to struggle, so I might setup a dedicated iTunes server using some old kit.
I have an Apple TV in the living room and a mac mini pretending to be an Apple TV in the bedroom.
iTunes runs on the Mac Pro in the study, the media
30,000 songs
5,000 TV shows (1,000 in 720p HD)
Sits on two 2tb Buffalo Terastation Pro NAS drives.
I've had to archive 600Gb of TV as I don't have room for it anymore, it stashed on SATA drives on the shelf.
The 200 movies (100 HD) sit on a 500Gb WD My book connected to the Pro as I've run out of room on the NAS drives.
Bring on 4tb hard drives, a 4x4Tb RAID 5 array (12Tb usable) should keep me going for a while, but I need to come up with a plan as I'd like to rip my 1,500 DVDs as well.
HD is the killer, 1 HD Movie takes up the room of 4 SD movies. Plus add the AC3 5.1 sound and we're looking at 5Gb per movie. 100 of those and your 500gb external drive is gone.
Also, after a couple of drive failures in the past (including loosing my entire music collection) I WILL NOT leave my media on a single drive again, hence the RAID NAS drives. Even then the music is backed up every night to a USB drive.
iTunes is starting to struggle, so I might setup a dedicated iTunes server using some old kit.
I just connected my first two firewire drives up through Apple's Software Raid the other day, and I have to say... I was quite impressed. I am sure there are some good reasons why the hardware solution is better, but I just wanted to say that my first experience with connecting external drives through Disk Utility went VERY well.
The capability to daisy-chain Firewire Drives HAS to be their biggest benefit! Awesome!
I've got the drives functioning as a Time Machine Drive right now, so it is set up as concatenated for space reasons.
The capability to daisy-chain Firewire Drives HAS to be their biggest benefit! Awesome!
I've got the drives functioning as a Time Machine Drive right now, so it is set up as concatenated for space reasons.
i'm trying to find a post from ehmac.ca regarding this same subject. i have to go out so i can't search for it now, but there's 1 guy who basically set up a pc box, chalk full of HDs and used ubuntu. it was his media server. it seems to be the way to go for me. similar idea to getting a g5, g4, but building a box means you can fit more HDs than a g4,g5 or even a macpro.
That is my ideal set up i think. i need a ton of space to back all my home movies up. that library is the biggest hurdle.
That is my ideal set up i think. i need a ton of space to back all my home movies up. that library is the biggest hurdle.
Xsan, Xserve RAID with Xserve and Leopard Server
This is what I did
I have purchased an Xserve RAID (14TB). The Xserve RAID is connected to an Xserve with Fiber Channel. The Xserve is running Leopard Server with Xsan. The Leopard Server does all my DHCP, Remote Login, etc
The Xsan manages the ACL and what not of the data being stored. The Leopard Server provides my network with "Portable Home Directories" and allows me to take my desktop with me when I'm on the go.
I can listen to and watch any video I want from my library. I can "sync" my iPhone with my MacBook Pro or my iMac.
The Music isn't stored on a local drive but Mac OS X thinks it is so does iTunes.
This is what I did
I have purchased an Xserve RAID (14TB). The Xserve RAID is connected to an Xserve with Fiber Channel. The Xserve is running Leopard Server with Xsan. The Leopard Server does all my DHCP, Remote Login, etc
The Xsan manages the ACL and what not of the data being stored. The Leopard Server provides my network with "Portable Home Directories" and allows me to take my desktop with me when I'm on the go.
I can listen to and watch any video I want from my library. I can "sync" my iPhone with my MacBook Pro or my iMac.
The Music isn't stored on a local drive but Mac OS X thinks it is so does iTunes.
Now that's what I call a PIMPED setup. If you don't mind, may I ask how much you ended up putting down for something like that?
These Ideas are all great, I have a WD Mybook Home Edition 500gb almost filled up with all my movies just ordered a 500gb drive from buy.com for like $70 to back that drive up. I still think one of the best solutions is to buy an older machine or build one and just stuff it with drives and nothing else, you dont need a fancy graphics card or sound or really anything, then just have like 2gb of ram or so and a solid c2d and a fast drive (blu-ray maybe) and just set it up as a server in like the basement or by the router and just rip all your movies and music there and just always run itunes on it to distribute content. (I saw some ridiculous setup where he had like 4 tv tuners also and just used screen sharing and client machines to watch tv from it)
ultimate scalability?
hey folks,
I wonder if something like what Sonnet has would be the ultimate in scalability?
http://sonnettech.com/product/fusiond500p.html
With it's sata card with port multiplier, it looks like you can keep adding enclosures - i wonder how well that works? It's definitely not cheap, but maybe a way to go.
Maybe the best way is to have a gigabyte switch attached to the aebs, then different enclosures connected to that switch?
hey folks,
I wonder if something like what Sonnet has would be the ultimate in scalability?
http://sonnettech.com/product/fusiond500p.html
With it's sata card with port multiplier, it looks like you can keep adding enclosures - i wonder how well that works? It's definitely not cheap, but maybe a way to go.
Maybe the best way is to have a gigabyte switch attached to the aebs, then different enclosures connected to that switch?
This is essentially what my setup is. I run a stripped down version of Linux called unRaid that allows me to mix and match HD sizes and types (IDE or SATA). UnRaid does something different from Raid 5 but they both will allow you to lose one drive and recover all your data.
I am testing the free version of unRaid right now and it is working very nicely. Will probably be upgrading to the full Pro version when funds become available.
Those look nice and I was considering going with one when i first decided to go the server route. I ended up building one because it allowed me to internallize more then four drives which was a hug plus for me. I have my server sitting downstairs and it is wired into my network, the onlything left to do is upgrade the router to a Gig one and everything will be done.
i'm thinking i'll go the same route as yours...i think it was your post that was similar to my needs. I just want to toss the sonnet stuff out there for thought and for others. if i didn't want to add all my home movies, i probably would go for the sonnet, but i'm thinking a jacked up server is the way to go.
I just returned one of those Fusion D500p boxes - was WAY too loud compared with my mac pro. I'm getting a new drobo.
yup, that was my thought when i started my research into server stuff. I ultimately decided i wanted the expandibility more then the form factor. That and if i ever decide to i can install a full blown operating system on my setup and have another computer.
Since a few others posted theirs, I thought I would make a sketch of my own setup. I also included my 'hopeful future additions' in the grayed-out section. Unfortunately, that gray section accounts for $1000 that I simply don't have right now.
I am currently using the 750 GB iomega external as a Time Machine drive, but would like to instead turn it into my iTunes drive (my library is currently at 525 GB and growing) while the drobo would become the wireless Time Machine drive. This would leave my computer hard drive free for home video storage and editing.
I am currently using the 750 GB iomega external as a Time Machine drive, but would like to instead turn it into my iTunes drive (my library is currently at 525 GB and growing) while the drobo would become the wireless Time Machine drive. This would leave my computer hard drive free for home video storage and editing.
